Ralph I, Count of Vermandois

Ralph I of Vermandois (French: Raoul Ier "le Vaillant") (d 14 October 1152) was Count of Vermandois. He was son of Hugh I, Count of Vermandois, and Adelaide, Countess of Vermandois. By his father, he was grandson of Henry I of France, while his mother had been heiress to Herbert IV of Vermandois.

His only paternal uncle was Philip I of France. Through him Raoul was a first cousin of Louis VI of France and a first cousin, once removed of Louis VII of France.

Ralph served as the seneschal of France during the reign of his cousin Louis VII. Under pressure from Queen consort Eleanor of Aquitaine, Louis allowed him to repudiate his wife Eleanor, daughter of Stephen, Count of Blois and Adela of Normandy and sister of the reigning King Stephen of England, in favor of Eleanor of Aquitaine's sister, Petronilla of Aquitaine. This led to a war with Theobald II of Champagne, who was the brother of Ralph's first wife Eleonore. The war lasted two years (1142–44) and ended with the occupation of Champagne by the royal army.

Ralph and Petronilla were excommunicated by Pope Innocent II for a marriage deemed illegitimate, overriding three bishops who had already annulled Ralph's prior marriage. The excommunication was dropped and Ralph's marriage sanctified a year later in 1143 by Pope Celestine II after Innocent died.

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